ECS AMD 890GX Motherboards Pictured

[btarunr]

Two of ECS' upcoming motherboards based on AMD's 890GX+SB800 chipset, supporting socket AM3 processors have been pictured: the A890GXM-A Black Series, and the IC890GXM-A. The two are ATX motherboards which build slightly on the chipset's features on offer.

The A890GXM-A Black Series is the higher-end part aimed at overclockers and performance users. It has an elaborate heatsink that covers the 890GX northbridge and CPU VRM area, which makes use of a heatpipe for uniform heat dissipation. It is marked with "Six Core CPU Support", indicating that it is ready for AMD's upcoming "Thuban" six-core desktop processor. The CPU socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots to support dual-channel memory. DDR3 memory with speeds over 1800 MHz are supported by overclocking.



Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated) with ATI CrossFireX support, a PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4), two PCI-Express x1, and one PCI. The storage system shines with native SATA 6 Gb/s support. The SB800 southbridge gives out five internal and one external SATA 6 Gb/s ports. IDE is done away with. Connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, an 8-channel HD Audio codec, eSATA, and USB 2.0. Display connectivity includes DVI and D-Sub, at least. The chipset embeds a DirectX 10.1 compliant IGP with SidePort memory support.

The second motherboard, the IC890GXM-A, is a simpler model aimed at home PC and media users. It has a simpler CPU VRM, the motherboard doesn't have a problem handling DDR3 memory at speeds of 1600 MHz. It claims support for six-core AMD desktop processors as well. The changes become more apparent with the expansion slots, where you will find one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, a PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4), and two each of PCI-Express x1 and PCI. There's just the one gigabit Ethernet controller, alongside the usual 8-channel audio, USB 2.0, eSATA 6 Gb/s, and display connectivity which includes DVI, and D-Sub. It is indicated that AMD's 890GX chipset will be released in April. These two could be expected to come out around that time.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Kantastic]

I know it doesn't make much of a difference but x8/x8 in CrossfireX?

 

[kylzer]

I know it doesn't make much of a difference but x8/x8 in CrossfireX?

well the chipset can actually do

x8x8x8x8 for quadfire so why not full x16x16

sorta weird.

 

[Imsochobo]

Say that about P55 too.

X48, X58 790FX 890FX
P55 P45 790GX 790X 780G
H57(or w/e) 780G
G35 740V

Its something like that they compare to eachother, AMD usually wins on GPU performance, Pci-E performance in some cases, 890FX outdo X58 in Pci-E i think

 

[Munki]

The black series board looks sick. It gave me an e-boner.

 

[Fourstaff]

:shadedshuUsb 2.0?

 

[cool_recep]

Stay away from ECS! We had a Black Series X58. ESC does not update the BIOS when needed. The Mobo is so crap that sometimes it does not boot after system restart!

 

[Brewster0101]

I second that about ECS, they are not good board makers. They should stick to cheap budget boards, high end is not their game.

 

[Polarman]

Why so many plastic colors ?

 

[werez]

uhm ... i got my hands on a ECS x58 board and to be honest it is was a decent motherboard . THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT however is really F**** up .

 

[jpierce55]

One of the best boards I ever had was an ECS...... one of the junkiest boards I ever seen was an ECS. It is a hit or miss thing I suppose.

 

[zithe]

Every crayon in the crayon box went into making the ECS mobo you see here.

Only the 8 pack.

 

[SirMango]

Nice VRM coolers. Other manufacturers should honestly add some VRM cooling on their lower-end motherboards.

 

[suraswami]

I don't understand why people hate ECS. All the ECS boards I have work excellent no issues at all, accept that it doesn't OC like a premium Asus or Gigabyte board but I doubt they even claimed to be like that or they charged a premium price for the board.

Anyway I see both boards only using 3+1 phase, hopefully its enough to keep the CPU cool and stable.

 

[blkhogan]

ECS is good at what they do..... making really crapy boards. They need to stay in the 'bottom of the barrel', and stop trying to improve something they suck ass at doing. Low budget builds are where they target mostly. Thier new and improved lines must be destroyed before they have a chance to populate the earth with more low end sucky ass shit.

 

[Jstn7477]

I have an ECS/PCChips board from 2003 (s478 VIA P4266A/8235) that still works, despite the dead LAN connector and a memory slot with a burnt pin (still works though.) However, the board I have uses a circa 1999 version of AMIBIOS, and doesn't support booting from DVDs.

ECS is a budget board maker, and people need to understand that. Just depends on if the board you get works or not.

 

[btarunr]

well the chipset can actually do

x8x8x8x8 for quadfire so why not full x16x16

sorta weird.

That's the 890FX, not GX.

 

[kylzer]

That's the 890FX, not GX.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

faceplam/

 

[cool_recep]

I don't understand why people hate ECS. All the ECS boards I have work excellent no issues at all, accept that it doesn't OC like a premium Asus or Gigabyte board but I doubt they even claimed to be like that or they charged a premium price for the board.

Anyway I see both boards only using 3+1 phase, hopefully its enough to keep the CPU cool and stable.

Dude, I am telling ya my expreiences. ECS X58B-A, which we were using at the test office, was not funtioning properly. Can you imagine a mobo that can not boot after restart? I mean WTF? What is the reson, I have just rebooted my PC and voila, it does not boot..

What is worse, we have switched to MSI X58 Pro. Updated the latest BIOS. Installed 2x3 1.65 Team DDR3 Kits. Guess what? We could not install Windows 7 on it. Google it... MSI have problems with memory modules. After removing the two modules, finally we were able to install 7.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Stay away from ECS! We had a Black Series X58. ESC does not update the BIOS when needed. The Mobo is so crap that sometimes it does not boot after system restart!

I second that about ECS, they are not good board makers. They should stick to cheap budget boards, high end is not their game.

ECS is good at what they do..... making really crapy boards. They need to stay in the 'bottom of the barrel', and stop trying to improve something they suck ass at doing. Low budget builds are where they target mostly. Thier new and improved lines must be destroyed before they have a chance to populate the earth with more low end sucky ass shit.

I have Had 4 ECS Boards and though none of them OC'd well they all outlasted 1 Gigabyte P-35DS3R, 1 Asus blah blah Intel 965 board, 1 Asus M2R32-MVP and 1 Gigabyte UD3 770 board..

High end NO
Stable and worth the price....YES
No the Black series are not up to par with GB or ASUS top Line boards but they completely squash the competition at there price range


EDIT: Jetway took ECS's role as Bottom of the line Boards

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

Stay away from ECS! We had a Black Series X58. ESC does not update the BIOS when needed. The Mobo is so crap that sometimes it does not boot after system restart!

Yep very much. They are more of an entry level boards.. their supposed "enthusiast" series, are a joke. Ive a friend that has an ECS, they OC like crap, and bios support / updates are almost non existent. Sold it the very next week and got a vanilla Gigabyte board which ocs better and has better support.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Dude, I am telling ya my expreiences. ECS X58B-A, which we were using at the test office, was not funtioning properly. Can you imagine a mobo that can not boot after restart? I mean WTF? What is the reson, I have just rebooted my PC and voila, it does not boot..

What is worse, we have switched to MSI X58 Pro. Updated the latest BIOS. Installed 2x3 1.65 Team DDR3 Kits. Guess what? We could not install Windows 7 on it. Google it... MSI have problems with memory modules. After removing the two modules, finally we were able to install 7.

did it boot after you powered down such as you switched off the PSU and turned it back on?

 

[suraswami]

Dude, I am telling ya my expreiences. ECS X58B-A, which we were using at the test office, was not funtioning properly. Can you imagine a mobo that can not boot after restart? I mean WTF? What is the reson, I have just rebooted my PC and voila, it does not boot..

What is worse, we have switched to MSI X58 Pro. Updated the latest BIOS. Installed 2x3 1.65 Team DDR3 Kits. Guess what? We could not install Windows 7 on it. Google it... MSI have problems with memory modules. After removing the two modules, finally we were able to install 7.

So did you try the removing memory module step on the ECS too? May be the memory modules are the culprit.

 

[werez]

First time i ordered an Asus motherboard ,the CROSSHAIR II , i received it defective . After RMA i got a new board that did not post . The third one however worked about 4 months then decided not to work anymore . I had problems with some ram modules , and the modules were on the QVL list , also problems with the HDD's setup . I had problems with other ASUS products , two videocards to be more precise . NOW THAT DOESN`T MEAN ASUS SUCKS . I will still buy ASUS products . It`s the same thing with ECS products . You don`t trust ECS as much as ASUS , but you can still get a defective ASUS product , no doubt about that .Anyway ...you get what you pay for .

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

Stay away from ECS! We had a Black Series X58. ESC does not update the BIOS when needed. The Mobo is so crap that sometimes it does not boot after system restart!

I agree, ECS is nothing but trash. One can not say enough bad things about ECS, their mobo's die at the drop of the hat. The bios you get when you buy the board is pretty much what your stuck with, their RMA service is slow if not almost non existant.